Report District Spending of One-Time Funds for Educational Recovery By Julien Lafortune, Laura Hill, Niu Gao, Joseph Herrera ... Jun 28, 2023 To address COVID-19 disruptions to education, federal and state programs directed billions in stimulus aid to K–12 schools. These programs allocated greater funding to lower-income and high-need districts—and California districts applied their early funds to health, safety, and technology. More recently, spending has prioritized learning recovery.
Fact Sheet Student Achievement on California’s K–12 Assessments By Iwunze Ugo, Emmanuel Prunty Jun 27, 2023 The results from California’s 2022 Smarter Balanced Assessments suggest that pandemic disruptions to K–12 education reversed nearly six years of academic progress. Declines in proficiency were widespread, but there was substantial variation across grade levels and demographic groups.
blog post Californians’ Racial Attitudes and the Reparations Task Force By Mark Baldassare Jun 5, 2023 The state's Reparations Task Force recently issued recommendations for how California might compensate and apologize for slavery and its lasting effects on African Americans. What do Californians think about racism, race relations, and this task force?
blog post Implications of Chronic Absenteeism for Student Learning By Laura Hill, Emmanuel Prunty Apr 4, 2023 Chronic absenteeism among California’s K–12 students increased dramatically during the pandemic. Schools with larger increases in absenteeism saw steeper declines in student performance on state tests, especially in math.
Policy Brief Policy Brief: Pandemic Changes to Medi-Cal and Implications for California’s Immigrant Farmworkers By Paulette Cha Mar 22, 2023 Pandemic changes to Medi-Cal made it easier for low-income Californians to stay enrolled and to access expanded services—improvements to care that may have helped immigrant farmworkers. The upcoming end of the public health emergency will reverse some of these changes, as advocates push to keep others permanent.
blog post Testimony: Assessing the Pandemic’s Effects on Student Learning, Absenteeism, and Graduation By Iwunze Ugo Mar 15, 2023 At an Assembly budget subcommittee hearing, PPIC’s Iwunze Ugo discusses how K–12 students are faring as California emerges from the pandemic. His testimony focuses in part on test scores from 2022, the first full administration of state standards tests in nearly three years.
blog post An Epic Snowpack May Test Water Management in the San Joaquin Valley By Jeffrey Mount Mar 13, 2023 Nothing improves our understanding of water like a “stress test”—and it’s starting to look like the San Joaquin Valley will face one this spring, when California’s epic snowpack begins to melt. This week on our blog, Jeff Mount speculates about what may lie ahead for the valley.
blog post Californians’ Views on Governor Newsom and the State of the State By Mark Baldassare Mar 7, 2023 Majorities of California adults (58%) and likely voters (57%) approve of Governor Newsom—good news for him as he forgoes the traditional state of the state address to speak directly with communities around the state.
blog post Tackling “Forever Chemicals” in the Water Supply By Sarah Bardeen Jan 19, 2023 Much has been made of two drinking water pollutants recently: PFAS and microplastics. We spoke with Jason Dadakis of the Orange County Water District to learn more about these pollutants—and to find out how worried we should be.
blog post What’s Next for Higher Education in 2023? By Olga Rodriguez, Kevin Cook Jan 11, 2023 After three years of disruption, California’s higher education institutions are ready to turn the page on the pandemic. We explore the key issues to watch this year in shrinking equity gaps, addressing enrollment concerns, and increasing college affordability and access.
